How does gaining knowledge benefit us if we do not change or grow as a result of learning new information?

Every day, we are inundated with information having varying degrees of usefulness. It seems as if we have all the knowledge in the world at our finger tips. Knowledge has the capacity to improve communities, solve major and minor problems, and to positively change our lives. Without knowledge, we would not have the necessary intellectual resources to make decisions or function in our daily tasks.

If we as a collective (not just on Fluther, but in any collective society) continue to absorb, exchange, and produce knowledge without having any substantively noticeable change or growth, what will we have gained by having increased knowledge?